We haven't been able to get in touch with any of the people from last week, here in our area, people get their phones turned off all the time and with a sick companion, you can't go see them. we have the car this week so we can see a lot more people. Oh the joys of sharing a car!!!! Full bike was interested work in Winter Park, I like having a car share.
That's exciting that Mc is going on a mission! I think that will be great for her and especially for her family. Missions are awesome! Its still weird for me when I hear about major changes going on at home, sometimes I feel like home is another dimension and I half expect everything to just go on pause until I return back to the home dimension.
Sounds like you did have a crazy weekend and some miracles. I had a great weekend too, I went on exchanges with another elder of the district and we were able to get to some hard work! His name is Elder B, he is 25 or 26, he has his own personality for sure! I loved it! We were biking around on the streets and whenever we saw someone that wasn't smiling he would stop and try and make them smile by telling a dumb joke or having a frowning contest with them. I was laughing the whole day, I think he does a really good job at being real as a missionary. A lot of missionaries are robots and don't add any of their personalities to their work. I really like that about Elder B. We taught our investigators this Saturday since we had to cancel the others because Elder P was sick.
I have been reflecting over my mission a lot this week, I realized that I'm coming up on the final stretch here. I still have 7 1/2 months, but that's really not that long. Before you know it it'll be Christmas, then Easter, mothers day, and I'll be home. I've realized that I have changed a lot since I've come out here. Really good changes that I'm happy about. The Atonement makes that all possible. Miracles happen when you turn your will over to God. Going on a mission helps young people to learn how to do that and help them to. The rules aren't constraints for me anymore, they have become something I understand and don't resent at all. When I wake up and start doing missionary work, I'm not thinking about what I'd rather be doing, in effect, sacrificing what I want to do for what I know I should do. It is becoming waking up in the morning and wanting to do missionary work, my will is starting to become more aligned with His. I've been out a long time, and other missionaries have started telling me that they look up to me, missionaries that have been out for a short time, it surprises me because I don't think I'm that great, but as I pondered about it last night, I realized I looked up to the priests when I was a deacon, and when I was a priest I didn't feel like I was worth looking up to. I think its because the more we go along and try to become better the more we see what we need to work on, the more light there is in a room, the clearer you will be able to see the clutter, dirt, and cobwebs. I hope that makes sense. It reminds me of a quote. "the more you know, the more you realize that you don't know." The deeper man has looked into outer space, the more we discover how vast and mysterious it is.
I share experiences of our family being provided for financially with people. I have a testimony of what It says in 3 Nephi 13: 25-34,
To close, The thing that best prepared me for a mission was going to college away from home for a year, I wish I had a habit of scripture study before my mission, and the greatest lesson I have learned on my mission is that of Charity. I have learned a lot about charity, Without charity, we truly are nothing, and because God loves us so much, we also must love and show kindness to those around us.
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Car week was nice, we were able to see a lot more people and get more lessons. It was a good week overall. I've learned a lot this week about recognizing and following the promptings of the spirit. We had tons and tons of appointments and plans fall through, but almost every time we did, Elder P or I would feel a prompting to go see a specific person or go knock on a specific door. Sometimes we didn't really see anything come out of it, but many times we would contact someone that was interested or with a few we were even able to teach them a lesson on the spot and make plans to see them again. None of the promptings were really in my face or anything, they came as just thoughts. Its hard to discern one of your own thoughts from a prompting of the spirit sometimes, but I find that when I act on those thoughts, I am then able to discern if it was a thought or a prompting.
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I'm loving it out here in Ocoee, I hope that I can stay here a long time, transfers are in a week so we will see what happens. Elder P and I are still getting along great and doing great work together, he is awesome! I love being his companion, I think he will be an assistant here someday. I keep talking him up to president, he doesn't want me too, but i think he'd be a great leader.
I finally gave a talk again this week, my last time giving a talk was my first Sunday in the mission field, 17 months ago :p I was very happy to get the opportunity. In typical fashion, I got the call Saturday night at 7pm, but it all worked out anyway. Here is the talk I gave. Its about Tithes and Offerings
Tithing and offerings- October 26, 2014
I am grateful for the opportunity to speak to you. This subject is one that is very important to me, and near to my heart. I am basing this message on 3 Nephi 13/ Matthew 6 which is commonly known as the sermon on the mount given to the people of Nephi and the Jews, respectively.
In verse 31-33 Jesus says,
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
This principle is what I feel impressed to speak on. It is this principle that has carried me many times from despair, to hope, from fear to faith.
I remember well when president Monson made the announcement in October 2012 that they were lowering the age for missionary service from 19 to 18 for young men. Everyone for the next month or so repeatedly and relentlessly asked me, so when are you leaving on your mission? I did not have the financial means to go on a mission. To keep a long story short, I had a lot of humbling experiences that taught me that I needed to keep the commandment to serve a mission.
With very little money, and not knowing how I would have the means, I left on my mission 17 months ago. Many miracles have occurred. I have a brother and a sister that have since followed me out into the mission field and are sharing the gospel with our brothers and sisters and have had much success. I too have been an instrument in bringing others into the Gospel.
It is not cheap to provide for 3 missionaries in the field. My parents knew this beforehand, and knew that my dads income and supporting family at home did not budget out right. but they never had any doubts. The miracles are endless that have occurred. Doctors bills have been paid off by unknown hands, they have found envelopes with money in them that were "doorbell ditched" to us. Families have gone to my bishop at home and anonymously contributed to my brother, sister and I. Last Monday I received an email from my family and they told me about people that showed up to my house 2 weeks ago. They showed up to my house and knocked on the door, my dad answered and they said, " You don't know us, but God told us that we needed to give this to you" and they left. After they left my dad opened the envelope to find $1014 inside. Many tears of joy were shed.
These acts of kindness and deliverance remind me of these verses of 3 Nephi 13
1 Verily, verily, I say that I would that ye should do alms unto the poor; but take heed that ye do not your alms before men to be seen of them; otherwise ye have no reward of your Father who is in heaven.
2 Therefore, when ye shall do your alms do not sound a trumpet before you, as will hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth;
And also verses 25-30
25 And now it came to pass that when Jesus had spoken these words he looked upon the twelve whom he had chosen, and said unto them: Remember the words which I have spoken. For behold, ye are they whom I have chosen to minister unto this people. Therefore I say unto you, take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air, for they sow not, neither do they reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;
29 And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, even so will he clothe you, if ye are not of little faith.
Many spiritual blessings have come as well, my family is spending more time together, my 14 and 12 year old sister and brother have found jobs, and are helping provide for the family and learning the value of money and work, my dad has opened up to more work opportunities, my parents are coming closer together, we are learning to be humble and allow others to help, we have a better relationship with our Heavenly Father
Now I was asked to speak today on tithing and fast offerings, don't worry brother Nielson, I'm bringing it back. Faithfully and Willingly paying tithes and offerings is easily comparable to my experiences which I have shared with you. We act in faith, holding nothing back, with no regrets, and we give the Lord our means in order to build his kingdom, and help lift the heavy burdens carried by our brothers and sisters who are poor in heart, and poor as to things of this world
To build the Lords Kingdom on earth, the lord has given us the law of tithing. Tithing is giving 10 percent of what you earn to the lord. Elder Bednar from the quorum of the twelve taught,
"The honest payment of tithing is much more than a duty; it is an important step in the process of personal sanctification. To those of you who pay your tithing, I commend you
To those of you who presently are not obeying the law of tithing, I invite you to consider your ways and repent. I testify that by your obedience to this law of the Lord, the windows of heaven will be opened to you. Please do not procrastinate the day of your repentance
I testify spiritual and temporal blessings come into our lives as we live the law of tithing."
A recent convert from my last area was young, inexperienced, poor as to things of the world, and very new to the gospel, he's been a member coming Up on 6 months now. He did something that inspired me, he earned 5 dollars for helping some older neighbors by mowing their lawn, he didn't want to get paid, but they insisted. He took every penny of that five dollars and gave it to the Lord. There is something he understands about tithing and offerings that we all should understand.
To lift those around us that are less fortunate, the Lord instituted the law of the fast.
Bishop Dean M. Davies, second counselor in the presiding bishopbric said,
"Caring for the poor and needy is a fundamental gospel doctrine and an essential element in the eternal plan of salvation.
Prior to His mortal ministry, Jehovah declared through His prophet: “For the poor shall never cease out of the land: therefore I command thee, saying, Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother, to thy poor, and to thy needy, in thy land."
As followers of the Savior, we have a personal responsibility to care for the poor and needy. Faithful Church members everywhere assist by fasting each month--abstaining from food and water for 24 hours--and then giving to the Church a financial fast offering equal to at least the value of the food they would have eaten
Complete fulfillment of the law of the fast occurs when the fast offering is made to the Lord’s agent, the bishop."
Isaiah’s words should be prayerfully considered and taught in every home:
“Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the quorum of the 12 apostles said this last conference,
"Given the monumental challenge of addressing inequity in the world, what can one man or woman do? The Master Himself offered an answer. When, prior to His betrayal and Crucifixion, Mary anointed Jesus’s head with an expensive burial ointment, Judas Iscariot protested this extravagance and “murmured against her.”
Jesus said:
“Why trouble ye her? she hath wrought a good work. …
“She hath done what she could.”
“She hath done what she could”! What a succinct formula! A journalist once questioned Mother Teresa of Calcutta about her hopeless task of rescuing the destitute in that city. He said that, statistically speaking, she was accomplishing absolutely nothing. This remarkable little woman shot back that her work was about love, not statistics. Notwithstanding the staggering number beyond her reach, she said she could keep the commandment to love God and her neighbor by serving those within her reach with whatever resources she had. “What we do is nothing but a drop in the ocean,” she would say on another occasion. “But if we didn’t do it, the ocean would be one drop less [than it is].”9 Soberly, the journalist concluded that Christianity is obviously not a statistical endeavor. He reasoned that if there would be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over the ninety and nine who need no repentance, then apparently God is not overly preoccupied with percentages."
We should not seek for attention when we fast, Jesus taught in 3 Nephi 13:17-18
17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thy head, and wash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father, who is in secret; and thy Father, who seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
When I was 8 and my parents started making fast, and I would whine and complain, often, I would leave my scriptures home, and take my scripture bag with a pack of graham crackers in them and sneak to the bathroom to munch on a few every once and a while. :) (NOTE TO MOM: I always wondered if you knew, there was a lot of things I did as a kid that were against the rules that I thought I got away with.) We shouldn't fast this way.
You will often not know all the good you do by paying tithes and fast offerings, but the people who recieve aid because of you will be grateful to the unknown hands that lifted them up, and will pray for the blessings of heaven to come upon you and your family forever.
Anyone who knows the blessings of tithing and fast offerings would be foolish to forgo those blessings for any reason.
Bishop Davies continued:
"Brethren, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are a covenant-making, commandment-keeping people. I cannot think of any law, any commandment, which, if kept faithfully, is easier to keep and which provides greater blessings than the law of the fast. When we fast and give an honest fast offering, we contribute to the Lord’s storehouse what would have been expended on the cost of the meals. It does not require monetary sacrifice in excess of what would be expended normally. At the same time, we are promised the extraordinary blessings, as previously noted."
In closing, I will read 3 Nephi 13: 19-21
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal;
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Let us faithfully pay our tithing and offerings. I bear my testimony that any sacrifice we make to keep Gods laws, is well worth it. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.
I hope you like it. There was a brother after church that forced an envelope in my hand, I told him I didn't want to take it, but he forced it, telling me that God told him to do it. I took it and I don't know what to do with it, should I send it home to you guys or use it for mission stuff here or give it to fast offerings or something? IDK. I prayed about it, I'm not sure, I feel like I should keep it here, but I don't know what to do with it, if God told him to give it to me, I want to be very careful what I use it on or give it to or whatever God wants me to do with it. Its $40. Am I just being ungrateful or prideful? I don't know, these are just the thoughts floating around in my head when I think about it.
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We have lots of baptisms coming up, the Ocoee Ward is blowing up! The other Elders are working with some awesome people and one of them is coming to church every week, yesterday he said he really wanted to be baptized. Elder P and I are working with some awesome people as well. We are working with a 17 year old girl named E, her baptism date was Christmas, but we read 3 Ne 11 with her and talked about the blessings of baptism and told her that she should not postpone those blessings. (she has been taught everything) She asked us when the soonest she could get baptized, and now she is being baptized in 2 weeks! We also have K who is progressing well and will be baptized in 2 1/2 weeks, and the P family that is excited for their baptism in 3 weeks, we have already taught them all everything. Please pray for them though that they will be able to make that covenant and endure to the end!
This week starts a new transfer, Elder P and I are both staying!!! :) I am really glad about that, Elder P and I are working together great and are getting lots of great work done. I'm also glad that I get to stay in Ocoee, I'm loving it here and I hope I can stay here a long time, the rest of my mission would be nice, but that is not very likely I'm sad to say. Thus starts another transfer though! Time goes so fast now, I just got here and I'm already a transfer in. I only have 5 transfers left, I want to make sure to use them wisely.
I'm learning a lot about accepting Gods will and Gods timing, its amazing for me to see how much really is not in my control, so the best thing to do is to just let it go. I love the poem you sent me in a letter at the beginning of my mission, I read it often.
"as children bring their broken toys,
with tears for us to mend.
I brought my broken dreams to God,
Because he was my friend.
But instead of leaving him,
in peace to work alone,
I stuck around and tried to help,
with ways that were my own.
At last I took them back and said,
"how can you be so slow?"
"my child" he said "what could I do?
you never did let go.""
Anyways, everything is going great,
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This week was a good week, the weeks are flying by so fast that it seems like almost everyday is P-day. Its like "I just wrote you a letter, I don't have anything else to say!" Anyways, I guess I can find a few things to talk about :) So this week we had Stake conference and they made a new stake. We were visited by Don R. Clark of the 70. He was cool, I really enjoyed his messages.
So E had her interview, the baptism is set up and all systems are go! Her baptism is this Saturday and we have invited tons of people so we are excited. Please pray for her that she can endure to the end and not let anything happen to anti her or discourage her!
We met with a recent convert yesterday that hates another recent convert in the ward. Its all just dumb stuff and they are always talking bad about each other behind each others backs and fighting with each other. Its ridiculous. Someone at the conference gave a quote from Gordon B. Hinckley that I though was just for me. He said that forgiving others is very hard, and that it is more a process and less an event. I feel good about all I'm doing to put the past behind and move forward, I don't feel like I'm held back by my past. Anyways, both the recent converts tell us to teach the other about humility and meekness and stuff. They both tell us that they will forgive when the other shows remorse for what they did. We are trying to help them, but we can't force them to let things go. If they are not careful they are going to destroy eachother and their families. "Blame keeps wounds open, only forgiveness heals" -Thomas S. Monson
I'm striving to have a loving and forgiving heart. The Lord requires us to forgive and love all men, it is his job to decide who to forgive, we are told to forgive all.
Right now I'm trying to think of something funny to write down that happened. We laugh a lot, pretty much all the time, but I don't remember what we laugh at.
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